I was born just after the vernal equinox in 1953, and while Summer and I were walking the land this morning, it occurred to me that I just finished my 70th summer, and Summer (the retriever) had just lived through her first complete summer, having been born one month into the summer of 2021. AsContinue reading “Seventy summers gone by”
Category Archives: The present moment
And Now
Tomorrow is approaching — or is it? It’s always now, isn’t it? We plan for tomorrow — or fail to — and we comb over yesterday with fondness or regret, but meanwhile Now is in progress, Now is happening, Now is all we have. It behooves us to pay attention now, to look around now,Continue reading “And Now”
To FRAP or not to be
Ray Bradbury, of course, had the best, most counterintuitive advice about writing wonderfully crafted stories: “Don’t think.” + + + “So don’t think!” he cried. “Don’t think about what?” asked his companion. “That’s the spirit!” And with that, he broke into a full-fledged sprint. He dashed across the front yard and down the slope. HeContinue reading “To FRAP or not to be”
Walk with me
The dog walked over and sat down next to the easy chair, looking up with the sad puppy-dog eyes that dogs have mastered since the beginning of time. “I’m bored,” her eyes seemed to say. “There’s nothing to do here. Is this all there is to life?” “You could read a book,” he said withContinue reading “Walk with me”
The cups and the compasses
When we first bought our land, six or seven years before we built the house on it, I envisioned filling our field with native wildflowers. Red has more conventional tastes, but she knows how to encourage both “proper” flower gardens and prairies of wildflowers, so we have developed both. We visited a nursery that specializesContinue reading “The cups and the compasses”
For the next generation to discover
“This aging stuff is fascinating,” the aging man said to his companion. “It’s like I’m slowly melting. Everything is falling apart or congealing into a tub of goo, and my mind sees it all happening and is powerless to change the inevitable.” “You could exercise, lose weight, wrap your aching joints, take an aspirin,” hisContinue reading “For the next generation to discover”
The dog who wouldn’t come in
A social media friend — one of those friends from decades ago who now exists only as a name on the purple page — wrote Tuesday about advice she received: When a dog runs away from you, the best thing you can do is sit down in the yard. That’s because chasing the dog feelsContinue reading “The dog who wouldn’t come in”